Seeing as how I have never used a DS and generally don't like hand-held consoles, I'm not entirely sure how they operate.
This one has a little poking thing right? Some call it a stylus? Little utensil for the moving, that's what I'll call it.
1. Your teacher says it is time for the ritual of mass-napping. But you are not tired and very mischievous. Sneak around the class without waking the other children and avoiding the teacher's line of sight. You are to pull pranks and do other things a person with limited physical capabilities could do. Mix up some of the teachers paperwork, hide your "friends' " shoes, steal their chocolate pudding snacks. Get caught and its boarding school for you bud.
2. This game is for people who wish to learn a new language. You play the kindergarten student and the teacher is trying to teach your small mind the alphabet. Eventually you'll get to phrases, then sentences, leading to paragraphs, and soon enough you'll be writing essays with your tiny stylus. The game will work on a grading system and penmanship will count. If you fail, don't bother taking those citizenship tests yet.
3. This time you are a child who wants to sleep, but you can't. Its not that you have insomnia, its that there's a ninja jumping around the class room! Is he lost? It's of little concern to you, you just want him out of there. He scares you. I mean, he's a ninja, ninjas are scary. They have throwing stars. Lead your fellow tykes in the offensive against this ninja. You'll have to raise the greatest Kindergarten Army of all time and employ all your resources to defeat the ninja. As well as hiding from his throwing stars, caltrops, and smoke grenades.
This game would have an overhead view perspective giving you the layout of the entire battle field err I mean classroom.
4. Are you smarter than a kindergartener?
In this game similar to one featuring children at the fifth-grade level, the contestants (players) would be in elementary school rather than college or out of college. The questions would be rather simple and hopefully the children will get them right.
Suggestion: Middle school teachers give your students this game. If they fail, keep them back a year. If it is within your power...lower them another year. If they win the game, say "Congratulations, you've proved me wrong, you're not a complete idiot." It may sound harsh, but its true. Okay, its probably not true. Sure would be funny though.
Topics would be: letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and astro-physics.
5. Finally! It's time for recess. Go outside and play some games. No, not you, your character.
There's a brand new slide, a ..whatchama-callit.. there's 2 ends and people sit on them... wait? whats the point of that thing? I'm glad I don't know the name of it! You can also get into a rock fight with the first-graders. Ah, now that's fun. There will be a checklist of goals to accomplish/ activities to do. Once you have done them all, recess is over and you lose the game. So don't stop with the things to do! This game will help teach people procrastination and waiting, very valuable skills that will serve them well as they get old. There will be different things to do from day to day and season to season. If you manage to get through all the recesses, you will reach summer vacation, where you will spend most of your time twiddling your thumbs. The game will log the number of hours you wasted and translate it into things you could have done instead.
"You have been playing for 50 hours, if you had a job, you could have made $400. Congratulations."
This game would pretty much be for people who hate themselves.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Events. Where? Guild Wars of course..
A particularly fun thing about Guild Wars is the occasionally events that Arena Net programs into the game. There is a wide range of things, from Halloween, to the Chinese New Year, to Saint Patrick's Day even. Different events provide for different things, and the significance of the real-world event directly correlates to the in game event. (Chinese New Year is bigger than St. Patty's day.) What they do is usually introduce a few new temporary drops, usually some manner of alcohol or sweets, sometimes something that will boost your attributes / statistics. Everyone looks forward to these events and spend hours on end farming the special goodies. Some events provide hats during the ending ceremony. Yes, hats. People love hats. I have a yule cap, a jesters hat, some antlers, and many more. Hats can help determine a person's life in Guild Wars. (Yule caps were from Wintersday 2005, in 2006, there was a modified version of this hat, and in 2007 some kind of crazy snowman skull. I'm rambling aren't I? My apologies. The events can provide quests which are almost always fun, and usually insane. (at least on the developer's part) A reindeer named Rudi and his nose can glow red? I love it! Sometimes there is even a new type of PvP that players can enter (such as the Dragon Arena or Snowball Fight) These make for great fun and provide a change of pace from your usual high-end, make you feel like a noob PvP that most PvPers are involved in.
Many a weekend has been lost to these wonderful events (sometimes even a week) for thousands of people across the world.
It does not stop there though! On every single weekend, there is a small, tiny event.. its not really an event in the typical sense of the word, but there is something special happening. It normally involves doubling or tripling some aspect of the game (such as faction points, experience, gold, what have you..) To name a few, there are: Double Alliance Battle Faction weekends (one of my favorites.. and it is this weekend, explaining why this post is being written now and not at some sensible hour), double experience and gold for vanquishing weekends, 2x unique/rare drops weekends, double hero battle's points weekends. If I were to list them all, I'm afraid the internet would run out of space.
Depending on what you like, you'll be a slave to the GW machine for a weekend or two every month or so. I spent my time wisely and earned tier 8 of the friends title, making me a Warden of the Kurzicks. When I say wisely, I am lying terribly. But I can not help it and I do not mind. Though I think my laptop does.. it'll learn though.
And they let you (they being ANet) know whats up through the message box at the log-in screen. It was difficult to read in German though. Perhaps I'll talk about that next week..
Many a weekend has been lost to these wonderful events (sometimes even a week) for thousands of people across the world.
It does not stop there though! On every single weekend, there is a small, tiny event.. its not really an event in the typical sense of the word, but there is something special happening. It normally involves doubling or tripling some aspect of the game (such as faction points, experience, gold, what have you..) To name a few, there are: Double Alliance Battle Faction weekends (one of my favorites.. and it is this weekend, explaining why this post is being written now and not at some sensible hour), double experience and gold for vanquishing weekends, 2x unique/rare drops weekends, double hero battle's points weekends. If I were to list them all, I'm afraid the internet would run out of space.
Depending on what you like, you'll be a slave to the GW machine for a weekend or two every month or so. I spent my time wisely and earned tier 8 of the friends title, making me a Warden of the Kurzicks. When I say wisely, I am lying terribly. But I can not help it and I do not mind. Though I think my laptop does.. it'll learn though.
And they let you (they being ANet) know whats up through the message box at the log-in screen. It was difficult to read in German though. Perhaps I'll talk about that next week..
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Photo Album Game Ideas
1. Each picture in the photo album represents a level to play. You go through the pictures, find a level and enter it. You must then make your way to the spot where the picture was taken and retake the picture. (You are not a member of the family, you are just jealous of all the fun times they have and want to do the same things they do). The game play on each level will be different based on what the location of the picture is. (Survive attacks by lions, defend the Great Wall from Mongols, don't freeze to death at the North Pole, and so on.) This would be a third to first person action /adventure game for the consoles and PC. (sorry Mac users)
2. Ninjas, saddened by their mysterious and lonely life, have decided to steal photo albums from peoples' houses and pretend that it is their family in the pictures as they have long ago lost connections to their own. You choose what side you want to be on - a ninja who must stealthy break into houses and steal photo albums or the families who must protect their precious photos as they'll never relive those memories. Wait... who wouldn't play a ninja? Maybe we'll disable the option to play as a family member.. This game would also be third to first person, and can be played one player or multiple players.
3. Your photo album is empty! Get out there and fill it up already. This game would have an open world environment where you'll walk around until you see something interesting or just really strange. Take a picture. Keep doing this till your camera is full then return home and upload it to your electronic photo album. If you are satisfied with the pictures, upload them to the internet, where they will be judged against the other people playing the game. Are you the greatest photographer or just some rook unfit to hold a camera? First person game, there will be some obstacles and challenges (such as finding new batteries) to slow down your pursuit of amazing photos.
4. You're a spiteful 12-year old who hates pictures of himself. Go through your family's photo albums and remove all traces of your existence. But don't get caught or you'll be in big trouble and they'll just take more pictures of you. The Commie bastards! You can use scissors to cut yourself out, you can burn the pictures, whatever you like. This would most likely be a mini-game in some larger game about a pre-teen /pre-teens who hate themselves and the world.
5. It is time to reminisce about the past. Go through old photos and tell the tale behind the picture. This is a game for the creative and fast of mind. (Improv like) You must keep the attention of the young ones who got stuck spending the day with you, but don't make the stories sound too crazy, your family has been begging for a reason to put you in a home or asylum. You can play this off-line or online. Off-line and you'll be judged by the NPCs who will determine your sanity and level of interestingness. Online and you will be rated by other people bored enough to play a game about story-telling from old pictures.
2. Ninjas, saddened by their mysterious and lonely life, have decided to steal photo albums from peoples' houses and pretend that it is their family in the pictures as they have long ago lost connections to their own. You choose what side you want to be on - a ninja who must stealthy break into houses and steal photo albums or the families who must protect their precious photos as they'll never relive those memories. Wait... who wouldn't play a ninja? Maybe we'll disable the option to play as a family member.. This game would also be third to first person, and can be played one player or multiple players.
3. Your photo album is empty! Get out there and fill it up already. This game would have an open world environment where you'll walk around until you see something interesting or just really strange. Take a picture. Keep doing this till your camera is full then return home and upload it to your electronic photo album. If you are satisfied with the pictures, upload them to the internet, where they will be judged against the other people playing the game. Are you the greatest photographer or just some rook unfit to hold a camera? First person game, there will be some obstacles and challenges (such as finding new batteries) to slow down your pursuit of amazing photos.
4. You're a spiteful 12-year old who hates pictures of himself. Go through your family's photo albums and remove all traces of your existence. But don't get caught or you'll be in big trouble and they'll just take more pictures of you. The Commie bastards! You can use scissors to cut yourself out, you can burn the pictures, whatever you like. This would most likely be a mini-game in some larger game about a pre-teen /pre-teens who hate themselves and the world.
5. It is time to reminisce about the past. Go through old photos and tell the tale behind the picture. This is a game for the creative and fast of mind. (Improv like) You must keep the attention of the young ones who got stuck spending the day with you, but don't make the stories sound too crazy, your family has been begging for a reason to put you in a home or asylum. You can play this off-line or online. Off-line and you'll be judged by the NPCs who will determine your sanity and level of interestingness. Online and you will be rated by other people bored enough to play a game about story-telling from old pictures.
What sets Guild Wars apart.
Guild Wars is an MMORPG unlike many that are out there and that is part of what makes it so very great.
The developers wanted to make a game that a person could play, enjoy, and be good at without having to devote their life to it (unfortunately I have anyways).
To do this a variety of aspects were changed from your standard MMORPG.
As mentioned not too long ago, there is a level cap of 20 and it does not take very long to reach this. (It can be done in a single day if you play too much or within a week if you are a somewhat casual player).
Traveling. Perhaps one of the most annoying and time-consuming parts of most MMORPG's is trying to get someplace. If you want to get across the world, be prepared to press your auto-run key and guide your character through zones for an hour or so. In Guild Wars, if you want to get to the far end of a distant continent, it takes about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on how fast your internet connection is. Although the method of traveling doesn't make a whole lot of sense, the players really appreciate it. You open up your map, find your destination, and click on it. Loading screen -> you're there. Lovely. All you need to do to be able to travel back to some place instantly is travel there once by foot. But there are outposts and cities everywhere so finding a place to leave from is not at all difficult and there is a chance you can even find a person to run your character there!
Death Penalty. Ugh, I just lost a level and half a bubble of experience. I'm going to go kill myself now. Woah, woah, woah! Not in Guild Wars my friend! Put the sword down. In many MMORPG's, your death led to much anger and loss of time by stealing away experience equal to the last 3 hours of killing you did and placing you someplace perhaps far away. You might even lose your inventory! Don't settle for this! In Guild Wars, a death leads to a temporary reduction of maximum health and energy. When you die, you get a 15% death penalty, lowering your health and energy by 15%. If you keep dying, you will continue to get / raise your DP. Two deaths = 30%, 3 = 45%, and 4 =60%. And thankfully 60% is the highest DP you can get. Originally, the only ways to remove a death penalty were by killing things or finishing quests to gain experience. (I believe it is either 75 or 125 experience to remove 1% of death penalty). You could earn a morale boost by killing a boss or doing objectives, or you could simply rezone to an outpost and remove all your DP at once. If your entire party is wiped, you will be resurrected in about 10 seconds at the closest rez shrine. In Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, there are several rez shrines in each outposts, while in the original Prophecies there tends to be one or two. (ANet kept making the game easier every week...)
Bosses- Killing a boss would grant you and your party a 2% morale boost (maximum being 10%), some nice exp, hopefully some phat loot, and if you brought a Signet of Capture, the ability to take a skill from their arsenal and put it in your skills list until time ends... or until you stop playing the game..whichever comes first. For me, it will be time ending.
The developers wanted to make a game that a person could play, enjoy, and be good at without having to devote their life to it (unfortunately I have anyways).
To do this a variety of aspects were changed from your standard MMORPG.
As mentioned not too long ago, there is a level cap of 20 and it does not take very long to reach this. (It can be done in a single day if you play too much or within a week if you are a somewhat casual player).
Traveling. Perhaps one of the most annoying and time-consuming parts of most MMORPG's is trying to get someplace. If you want to get across the world, be prepared to press your auto-run key and guide your character through zones for an hour or so. In Guild Wars, if you want to get to the far end of a distant continent, it takes about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on how fast your internet connection is. Although the method of traveling doesn't make a whole lot of sense, the players really appreciate it. You open up your map, find your destination, and click on it. Loading screen -> you're there. Lovely. All you need to do to be able to travel back to some place instantly is travel there once by foot. But there are outposts and cities everywhere so finding a place to leave from is not at all difficult and there is a chance you can even find a person to run your character there!
Death Penalty. Ugh, I just lost a level and half a bubble of experience. I'm going to go kill myself now. Woah, woah, woah! Not in Guild Wars my friend! Put the sword down. In many MMORPG's, your death led to much anger and loss of time by stealing away experience equal to the last 3 hours of killing you did and placing you someplace perhaps far away. You might even lose your inventory! Don't settle for this! In Guild Wars, a death leads to a temporary reduction of maximum health and energy. When you die, you get a 15% death penalty, lowering your health and energy by 15%. If you keep dying, you will continue to get / raise your DP. Two deaths = 30%, 3 = 45%, and 4 =60%. And thankfully 60% is the highest DP you can get. Originally, the only ways to remove a death penalty were by killing things or finishing quests to gain experience. (I believe it is either 75 or 125 experience to remove 1% of death penalty). You could earn a morale boost by killing a boss or doing objectives, or you could simply rezone to an outpost and remove all your DP at once. If your entire party is wiped, you will be resurrected in about 10 seconds at the closest rez shrine. In Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, there are several rez shrines in each outposts, while in the original Prophecies there tends to be one or two. (ANet kept making the game easier every week...)
Bosses- Killing a boss would grant you and your party a 2% morale boost (maximum being 10%), some nice exp, hopefully some phat loot, and if you brought a Signet of Capture, the ability to take a skill from their arsenal and put it in your skills list until time ends... or until you stop playing the game..whichever comes first. For me, it will be time ending.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Rain Drop character Game ideas.
1. It is a 2D side scroller that goes down instead of to the right. You are a lonely rain drop who just wants to be with others. Make your way from the clouds to the ocean far, far below. There will be birds, planes, and other things in your way as you plummet to Earth. Don't hit anything or you'll splatter all over the place. Also, try to avoid the sunlight as it will dry you out.
2. Wild fires are running rampant across the mid-west and there appears to be no end in sight. Locate your fellow rain drops and lead them to the problem areas. Get up in the sky and perform the noble task of kamikaze-ing into the flames. Extinguish the flames before all is lost and your name will be remembered for all of H2O's history.
It would be a 3rd person action/adventure game.
3. A shooter game where you are a cloud, your ammo: rain drops. There will be various tasks for you to complete, namely watering crops, ending droughts, causing floods and putting out fires. If you run out of rain drops, you must go through the timely process of reloading by evaporating water from lakes and oceans, storing it in yourself and then continuing with the task at hand. ( The process will be sped up so the player can enjoy their 12th birthday, the 4th of July and Halloween. There will be several levels, and you'll get your assignment from some being of higher power, lets say the Cloud King, at the begining of each level. The amount of rain you drop will effect what happens.
4. You're a particualry malicious rain drop with the ability to reincarnate upon death. In this first person game, you must find the most "displeased because of the rain" people you can find. Targets include: people without umbrellas, people reading the newspaper, women with newly done hair, people with new suits, people playing sports, parades, picnics, sun-bathers, and so on. It is your duty to ruin their day! What do you get from this? The satisfaction of causing others misery.
5. Your friends keep trying to commit suicide by jumping out of the cloud. You must save them! Go after them and make sure they don't hit solid ground, at least not as a drop of rain. You can either push them over a lake, pond, ocean (some kind of body of water) so that they will be able to reform after impact, or find some place nice and chilly and turn into snowflakes so that you can make a nice, soft landing. Once you are out of the air, you'll have to stop them from evaporating again because they'll just try to off themselves all over again. (It was being so high and condensed that depressed them.) This would be in the third-person.
2. Wild fires are running rampant across the mid-west and there appears to be no end in sight. Locate your fellow rain drops and lead them to the problem areas. Get up in the sky and perform the noble task of kamikaze-ing into the flames. Extinguish the flames before all is lost and your name will be remembered for all of H2O's history.
It would be a 3rd person action/adventure game.
3. A shooter game where you are a cloud, your ammo: rain drops. There will be various tasks for you to complete, namely watering crops, ending droughts, causing floods and putting out fires. If you run out of rain drops, you must go through the timely process of reloading by evaporating water from lakes and oceans, storing it in yourself and then continuing with the task at hand. ( The process will be sped up so the player can enjoy their 12th birthday, the 4th of July and Halloween. There will be several levels, and you'll get your assignment from some being of higher power, lets say the Cloud King, at the begining of each level. The amount of rain you drop will effect what happens.
4. You're a particualry malicious rain drop with the ability to reincarnate upon death. In this first person game, you must find the most "displeased because of the rain" people you can find. Targets include: people without umbrellas, people reading the newspaper, women with newly done hair, people with new suits, people playing sports, parades, picnics, sun-bathers, and so on. It is your duty to ruin their day! What do you get from this? The satisfaction of causing others misery.
5. Your friends keep trying to commit suicide by jumping out of the cloud. You must save them! Go after them and make sure they don't hit solid ground, at least not as a drop of rain. You can either push them over a lake, pond, ocean (some kind of body of water) so that they will be able to reform after impact, or find some place nice and chilly and turn into snowflakes so that you can make a nice, soft landing. Once you are out of the air, you'll have to stop them from evaporating again because they'll just try to off themselves all over again. (It was being so high and condensed that depressed them.) This would be in the third-person.
Some Game Mechanics (Guild Wars)
When Guild Wars was first released, there was a total of six classes a person could play. Over the next year and a half or so, Anet introduced 4 more classes. Each class is very different from the last with certain ones having strengths in one area and weaknesses in others. As with any MMO, balancing is one of the key aspects that the developers work on before releasing the game and in the case of online games, well into its life. Balancing requires attention to be paid to the armors of a class, the damgage output of weapons, and skills/spells. Below is a list of each classes standard settings at level 20 and unique aspects/attributes.
Warrior - 80 armor, 2 energy regeneration, primary attribute = strength (adds an overall damage, improves strength related skills)
Ranger - 70 armor, 3 energy regeneration, primary attribute = expertise (lowers energy cost on a variety of skills, improves expertise related skills)
Necromancer - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute = soul reaping (character gains energy equal to level in soul reaping whenever something dies -- this was nerfed in an attempt to balance the classes -> became once every 5 seconds could you gain energy, now it its 3 times every 15 seconds. (this caused much anger for me.) also improves the FIVE soul reaping skills.
Monk - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute divine favor (adds additional health to a character whenever healed or "protected" equal to 3 x level of divine favor, improves divine favor spells)
Mesmer - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute = fast casting (does what it says, for each level in fast casting, the mesmer casts their spells and signets a little bit faster, also improves the two handfuls of fast casting spells)
Elementalist - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute = energy storage (for each level a ele has in e storage, their energy raises by 3 points, and as with the others, improves energy storage related spells)
That covers the core classes, the others will be discussed at a later date. Now for the purpose / things about the classes...
The warrior is a tank. They are the ones who are hopefully taking the damage in the group and can utilize a few different melee weapons (swords, axes, and hammers). They have a few "shouts" which can be used to help the warriors group or handicap foes. They have both low energy attacks (normally 5 energy) and adrenaline based attacks, which build up as the warrior hits and gets hit.
The ranger is one with nature. They have the ability to charm a "pet" that will aid them in battle and can summon nature rituals that have either good or negative effects. They are the master of the bow, and while usually lower in DPS than some other classes/weapon types, have the ability to interupt a great many skills helping yourself and team out tremendously. They can also set traps that will bother an unsuspecting enemy to no end. To improve on their bow attacks, rangers have a dozen or so preparations that make them even more effective and irritating.
The necromancer. Well here's a complex class. They are the masters of death, often making their newly dead foes serve them in whatever way they would like. The necro has three major attribute lines: blood, curses, and death magic. Blood magic allows you to take your foe's health and give it to yourself. It can also be used to sacrifice your own health for a specific purpose, such as dealing damge, healing/helping a friend, and healing yourself. In the curses line there are a great many hexes that really put a damper on your foe. You can lower their damage output, slow their attack rate, cause them to miss frequently, and make them lose health if they do ANYTHING. It also has a few ways in which to heal yourself. Death magic focuses mostly on corpses, but there are some other uses as well. With death magic, you can create a minion army to slaughter all who stand in your way, exploit a corpse to steal health, teleport to a corpse (teleporation is unique to necromancers), spread disease among enemies, and deal cold damage.
Necromancers, as with the other caster classes, normally use a staff or wand + offhand combo. The damage from which is really on the low side.
The monk. They are the healers and protectors of the games. Some foolish or bored ones however turn to their smiting prayers line of spells every once in awhile. Healing prayers - direct heals either through health regeneration or instant health gain (helped a bit by divine favor). Protection prayers are a bit more passive. They stop or reduce damage from happening, remove hexes and conditions, and can even stop a foe from attacking for a short while. You can even raise your maximum health with a spell. Smiting prayers deal a bit of damage to most foes, however versus the undead / summoned, that damage is doubled! It can be very useful to have a smite monk in an area with undead, however it is rare to see one and even rarer that someone will want one in a group.
The mesmer is just there to piss you off. Through the first few months of Guild Wars, the mesmer was more often found in PvP rather than in PvE. Why is this? They are the masters of annoyance. Mesmers have 3 lines of magic that are used: domination, illusion, and inspiration. Many of the domination spells are interupts. Your foe tries to do something, you stop them, the swear at you to no end (if you continue to interupt them, which you most likely will be). They also have a few dd (direct damage) spells to boot. The illusion line features several spells that cause health degeneration, causes enemies to miss with attacks, and slow their movement speed (very annoy two spell lines). Inspiration is mostly used for health management. There are stances to prevent/reduce damage and give you energy, and spells to steal a foes energy and turn it into health for you. What makes them even more annoying is the fast casting which makes their interupts seem almost instant, giving you no chance. Also, some of their more powerful skills take a bit long to cast.. but not for them, for the classes with a mes secondary.
The elementalist is one of the best damage dealers in the game. They have 4 lines of elemental magic to go along with their energy storage: earth, fire, water, and air. Each has unique characteristics/abilites, but they all do mega-damage. How did Anet decide to balance this class? Well, many elementalist spells require massive amounts of energy. For example, there are a handful of spells that a warrior could not cast even if he/she were at their maximum enery. Their spells also take longer to cast (many 2 seconds or 1 second, some 3 seconds, a handful 5 seconds. The recharge time on many spells is also very long (from 30 to 60 seconds in many cases.) Elementalists also have the unfortunate side effect of giving themselves exhaustion with lots of their spells, which lowers their maximum energy for a short time. They can do a whole lot of damage, but their down time is also the greatest among any class and you will often find yourself waiting while the ele pings, "My energy is 11 out of 96!"
Warrior - 80 armor, 2 energy regeneration, primary attribute = strength (adds an overall damage, improves strength related skills)
Ranger - 70 armor, 3 energy regeneration, primary attribute = expertise (lowers energy cost on a variety of skills, improves expertise related skills)
Necromancer - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute = soul reaping (character gains energy equal to level in soul reaping whenever something dies -- this was nerfed in an attempt to balance the classes -> became once every 5 seconds could you gain energy, now it its 3 times every 15 seconds. (this caused much anger for me.) also improves the FIVE soul reaping skills.
Monk - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute divine favor (adds additional health to a character whenever healed or "protected" equal to 3 x level of divine favor, improves divine favor spells)
Mesmer - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute = fast casting (does what it says, for each level in fast casting, the mesmer casts their spells and signets a little bit faster, also improves the two handfuls of fast casting spells)
Elementalist - 60 armor, 4 energy regeneration, primary attribute = energy storage (for each level a ele has in e storage, their energy raises by 3 points, and as with the others, improves energy storage related spells)
That covers the core classes, the others will be discussed at a later date. Now for the purpose / things about the classes...
The warrior is a tank. They are the ones who are hopefully taking the damage in the group and can utilize a few different melee weapons (swords, axes, and hammers). They have a few "shouts" which can be used to help the warriors group or handicap foes. They have both low energy attacks (normally 5 energy) and adrenaline based attacks, which build up as the warrior hits and gets hit.
The ranger is one with nature. They have the ability to charm a "pet" that will aid them in battle and can summon nature rituals that have either good or negative effects. They are the master of the bow, and while usually lower in DPS than some other classes/weapon types, have the ability to interupt a great many skills helping yourself and team out tremendously. They can also set traps that will bother an unsuspecting enemy to no end. To improve on their bow attacks, rangers have a dozen or so preparations that make them even more effective and irritating.
The necromancer. Well here's a complex class. They are the masters of death, often making their newly dead foes serve them in whatever way they would like. The necro has three major attribute lines: blood, curses, and death magic. Blood magic allows you to take your foe's health and give it to yourself. It can also be used to sacrifice your own health for a specific purpose, such as dealing damge, healing/helping a friend, and healing yourself. In the curses line there are a great many hexes that really put a damper on your foe. You can lower their damage output, slow their attack rate, cause them to miss frequently, and make them lose health if they do ANYTHING. It also has a few ways in which to heal yourself. Death magic focuses mostly on corpses, but there are some other uses as well. With death magic, you can create a minion army to slaughter all who stand in your way, exploit a corpse to steal health, teleport to a corpse (teleporation is unique to necromancers), spread disease among enemies, and deal cold damage.
Necromancers, as with the other caster classes, normally use a staff or wand + offhand combo. The damage from which is really on the low side.
The monk. They are the healers and protectors of the games. Some foolish or bored ones however turn to their smiting prayers line of spells every once in awhile. Healing prayers - direct heals either through health regeneration or instant health gain (helped a bit by divine favor). Protection prayers are a bit more passive. They stop or reduce damage from happening, remove hexes and conditions, and can even stop a foe from attacking for a short while. You can even raise your maximum health with a spell. Smiting prayers deal a bit of damage to most foes, however versus the undead / summoned, that damage is doubled! It can be very useful to have a smite monk in an area with undead, however it is rare to see one and even rarer that someone will want one in a group.
The mesmer is just there to piss you off. Through the first few months of Guild Wars, the mesmer was more often found in PvP rather than in PvE. Why is this? They are the masters of annoyance. Mesmers have 3 lines of magic that are used: domination, illusion, and inspiration. Many of the domination spells are interupts. Your foe tries to do something, you stop them, the swear at you to no end (if you continue to interupt them, which you most likely will be). They also have a few dd (direct damage) spells to boot. The illusion line features several spells that cause health degeneration, causes enemies to miss with attacks, and slow their movement speed (very annoy two spell lines). Inspiration is mostly used for health management. There are stances to prevent/reduce damage and give you energy, and spells to steal a foes energy and turn it into health for you. What makes them even more annoying is the fast casting which makes their interupts seem almost instant, giving you no chance. Also, some of their more powerful skills take a bit long to cast.. but not for them, for the classes with a mes secondary.
The elementalist is one of the best damage dealers in the game. They have 4 lines of elemental magic to go along with their energy storage: earth, fire, water, and air. Each has unique characteristics/abilites, but they all do mega-damage. How did Anet decide to balance this class? Well, many elementalist spells require massive amounts of energy. For example, there are a handful of spells that a warrior could not cast even if he/she were at their maximum enery. Their spells also take longer to cast (many 2 seconds or 1 second, some 3 seconds, a handful 5 seconds. The recharge time on many spells is also very long (from 30 to 60 seconds in many cases.) Elementalists also have the unfortunate side effect of giving themselves exhaustion with lots of their spells, which lowers their maximum energy for a short time. They can do a whole lot of damage, but their down time is also the greatest among any class and you will often find yourself waiting while the ele pings, "My energy is 11 out of 96!"
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Some rules/restrictions in Guild Wars
To keep the game play "fair" a level cap of 20 was established for players. It is not hard to get to this level, so people in PvP have a chance to compete. NPC's often have higer levels than players but they are not the brightest and sometimes you can outnumber them. It is all about balance. The majority of high-end areas allow for paties of 8 people so they are capable of dealing with the groups of 28's that lie right outside the zone. A few areas allow for parties of 12 people, but this are among the most difficult of places to fight.
There are NPC's with levels even higher than 28, going up to 32. These tend to be the bosses and range in difficulty. A level 30 might be easier to kill than a level 26, based on how many people are in the party and if they were properly prepared or not.
Some high-end NPCs can even be soloed if you know what you are doing.
While many players are unhappy with the level cap of 20, it was simply practical for Anet to do, as there are not an unlimted amount of expansions and only so much content. Everything in the game can be accomplished with level 20's.
Another reason for this cap was that the developers wanted it to be about skill, not time played. And in many situations this is true.
There are NPC's with levels even higher than 28, going up to 32. These tend to be the bosses and range in difficulty. A level 30 might be easier to kill than a level 26, based on how many people are in the party and if they were properly prepared or not.
Some high-end NPCs can even be soloed if you know what you are doing.
While many players are unhappy with the level cap of 20, it was simply practical for Anet to do, as there are not an unlimted amount of expansions and only so much content. Everything in the game can be accomplished with level 20's.
Another reason for this cap was that the developers wanted it to be about skill, not time played. And in many situations this is true.
Witch Librarian Game Ideas
Many of the patrons have decided not to obey the rules of the library. Teach them a lesson by casting spells on them and as you can not stand disorder, do it in a promptly manner. But be careful not to bother the ones sticking to the rules or you'll be fired.
Click on the people who are talking, running, or trying to leave without checking out their book. Different sprites for the various people, and a random effect/sprite when you click on a person breaking the rules. (make them a frog, turn them into stone, and so on..)
----
It is a very busy day at the library and you don't even have time to get up from your desk. Process returns and find books people wish to check out without getting up from the desk. There will be several areas of different types of books, when you get a book back, you would click on it and then the proper area. There will also be people asking you for help in finding a book. Scroll over the right area, find the book, click it and then click on the person. There are many people, all impatient Americans, so do your tasks with great speed. Your pay depends on it.
----
You just got a job as a librarian and in order to keep it, you must not let people find out you are a witch. As they enter the building, keep them under a spell so that they will not see your true, hideous form. Your spells only last so long though, so you will need to keep casting it. To make matters worse, after each time a person has the spell put on them, it lasts for shorter and shorter periods of time. More people keep coming in each minute, keep them all entranced until they exit.
Click on a person as they enter and there will be a way to tell how much longer they will be under your spell. As time goes by there will be many people in the library, several of whom have short durations on the spell cast time. There is also a limit to how many spells you can cast in an amount of time, so cast wisely. You can spend some time hiding from people without spells, but eventually people will notice you are not there and start wondering.
----
You work at a particulary run-down library with falling over bookshelves and a leaky roof. Keep the place in order without stepping into a puddle of water or under a drippy part of the roof.
The library would be laid out as a maze, with puddles of water and drippy areas placed about. Books will fall off the shelves or the book shelves themselves may fall over. You have to get to each and fix the problem without stepping in the puddles or under the dripping ceiling. Stepping in a puddle will kill you instantly and the dripping water will take off 10% of your health. There will sometimes be other obstacles in your way just to make life even more difficult. You will be fired if you don't fix the problems soon enough.
Arrow buttons would control movement, space bar replaces a book to the shelf, there is a timer, and a counter for money you have earned.
----
A new rule has been made, all library employees must wear a photo id while working. This poses quite a problem for you as in any picture taken of you, your image would not appear. Now you must convince your boss not to make you get a picture taken. After that, his/her's superiors must be convinced to undo their new rule.
It would be a sort of dialouge game. You would start up a conversation with your boss after avoiding the cameraman. There would be several options for each time you would say a line, each giving a different result. Choose the wrong one and you'll either have to get back in the right track or get your photo taken, revealing your witchy-ness. When you try to convince the superiors to undo the new rule, you must be careful not to offend or bother them or you will lose your job.
Start the conversation, pick a line, they reply, pick the next line to say and so on.
Click on the people who are talking, running, or trying to leave without checking out their book. Different sprites for the various people, and a random effect/sprite when you click on a person breaking the rules. (make them a frog, turn them into stone, and so on..)
----
It is a very busy day at the library and you don't even have time to get up from your desk. Process returns and find books people wish to check out without getting up from the desk. There will be several areas of different types of books, when you get a book back, you would click on it and then the proper area. There will also be people asking you for help in finding a book. Scroll over the right area, find the book, click it and then click on the person. There are many people, all impatient Americans, so do your tasks with great speed. Your pay depends on it.
----
You just got a job as a librarian and in order to keep it, you must not let people find out you are a witch. As they enter the building, keep them under a spell so that they will not see your true, hideous form. Your spells only last so long though, so you will need to keep casting it. To make matters worse, after each time a person has the spell put on them, it lasts for shorter and shorter periods of time. More people keep coming in each minute, keep them all entranced until they exit.
Click on a person as they enter and there will be a way to tell how much longer they will be under your spell. As time goes by there will be many people in the library, several of whom have short durations on the spell cast time. There is also a limit to how many spells you can cast in an amount of time, so cast wisely. You can spend some time hiding from people without spells, but eventually people will notice you are not there and start wondering.
----
You work at a particulary run-down library with falling over bookshelves and a leaky roof. Keep the place in order without stepping into a puddle of water or under a drippy part of the roof.
The library would be laid out as a maze, with puddles of water and drippy areas placed about. Books will fall off the shelves or the book shelves themselves may fall over. You have to get to each and fix the problem without stepping in the puddles or under the dripping ceiling. Stepping in a puddle will kill you instantly and the dripping water will take off 10% of your health. There will sometimes be other obstacles in your way just to make life even more difficult. You will be fired if you don't fix the problems soon enough.
Arrow buttons would control movement, space bar replaces a book to the shelf, there is a timer, and a counter for money you have earned.
----
A new rule has been made, all library employees must wear a photo id while working. This poses quite a problem for you as in any picture taken of you, your image would not appear. Now you must convince your boss not to make you get a picture taken. After that, his/her's superiors must be convinced to undo their new rule.
It would be a sort of dialouge game. You would start up a conversation with your boss after avoiding the cameraman. There would be several options for each time you would say a line, each giving a different result. Choose the wrong one and you'll either have to get back in the right track or get your photo taken, revealing your witchy-ness. When you try to convince the superiors to undo the new rule, you must be careful not to offend or bother them or you will lose your job.
Start the conversation, pick a line, they reply, pick the next line to say and so on.
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